Man has known about chewing for a very long time, long before the arrival of chewing gum. Indeed, prehistoric man already used to chew conifer sap, leaves, plant secretions and roots. In Mexico, the Mayans, more than 3000 years ago, used to chew sapodilla sap, a kind of latex known as “chicle”. In 400 BC, the Greeks used to chew resin, and the Amazonian Indians chewed balls of tobacco or wads of coca extracted from small Peruvian shrubs: the cola tree.
However, it was not until the 19th century that chewing gum as we know it today appeared.
In 1869, the patent for chewing gum was filed by the dentist William Finley Semple, who was convinced of its beneficial effects for the teeth, but he did not market his invention. It was in about 1870 that Thomas Adams of New York had the idea of developing a machine for producing chewing gum. By mixing chicle, resin and syrup, he produced and marketed the first chewing gums in 1872.
Today, France has become the 2nd worldwide consumer of chewing gum, behind the United States. Chewing gum can be consumed at any time of the day. It is the ideal product when a person wishes to consume something pleasant or to eat something sweet. Furthermore, irrespective of its flavor, chewing gum makes the breath fresh and plays a hygiene and social role. 53% of people chew chewing gum to freshen their breath. Chewing gum is increasingly appearing as a substitute for toothpaste. 39% of people chew chewing gum to clean their teeth when they cannot brush them. Chewing gum is in particular consumed after meals since it facilitates digestion by promoting the secretion of saliva and the work of the stomach. Many consumers use chewing gum as an anti-stress agent or as a means for reducing nervous tension and for relaxing. 30% of individuals like chewing gum when they are irritated and 27% become calm on chewing chewing gum. Chewing gum is also considered to be an effective substitute for smoking. In a time when the legal measures directed toward reducing tobacco consumption are on the strong increase, chewing gum still has ripe perspectives for development.
Chewing gum (or chewing gum paste, chiclette) is a gum to which are added flavorings and food fragrances, intended to be chewed. All chewing gums are produced from a gum base to which are added flavorings and sugar and/or sweeteners to give the taste. Chewing gum is a mixture of two phases: a liquid phase (syrup, diluted sugars and/or sweetener) and a solid phase composed of the gum base and granulated sugar and/or sweetener.
At the current time, chicle, a natural gum base derived from the trunk of sapodilla trees, but which has become too expensive due to the rarity of the trees and the excessively high production and transportation costs), has been replaced with a synthetic product (gum base) which is composed of:                1 or 2 elastomers that determine the elasticity,        waxes which lower the softening point and which have an anti-tack and plasticizing power,        mineral bulking agents which improve the mechanical qualities,        an antioxidant which protects the qualities of the gum during production and which protects it from aging,        resins which bind together the raw materials of the gum.        
The dosage of these 5 ingredients determines the type of gum (chewing gum or bubble gum). The recipe often remains secret because it is not constant. It varies according to the price of the raw material. The constituent ingredients of the gum base are water-insoluble. On the other hand, the majority of the constituent ingredients of chewing gums, except for the gum base, are soluble in water (i.e. in this case saliva). After 3 to 4 minutes of chewing time, the compounds are extracted (dissolved) by the saliva, hence the loss of taste of the chewing gum. The gum base and a few flavorings that are not water-soluble remain in the mouth.
The gum base is a product that is complex to produce: the ingredients are meted out rigorously to obtain more or less elastic gums. The ingredients are blended for between one and a half hours and two hours in a kneader which operates like bakery kneaders. The blending heats the gum. It finally reaches a temperature of 95° C. to 98° C. The elastomer used (in place of the chicle) is a food-quality isobutylene-isoprene (butyl) copolymer.
The flavorings, sweeteners or sugar and also various additives and production aids (colorant, gelatin, emulsifier, stabilizer, gelling agent, bicarbonate, carnauba wax) are added to this base. The ingredients and the gum base are mixed in a kneader for 15 to 20 minutes. At the end of blending, the paste reaches a temperature of approximately 50° C. The chewing gum paste is placed in an extruder. Once correctly pressed, it then forms more or less thick strips. The strips then pass through the roller and are cut into sticks or cores also known as centers. After cooling, the sticks or centers are maintained at a control temperature and humidity for 6 to 48 hours. This phase is carefully controlled, since the quality of the chewing gums is dependent thereon.
The sticks are wrapped in an aluminum wrapping to conserve all their taste. They are then placed in packets. The centers are sweet-coated before being packaged in cardboard or plastic containers.
Irrespective of the age of the consumers, there is a permanent desire to have quality products. The quality of chewing gums is measured by several parameters, including the texture of the chewing gum (rather hard or, on the contrary, rather soft, persistent crunchiness of the sweet-coated tablets during chewing) and the taste (sweet taste, freshness effect or otherwise, persistence of the flavor during chewing). Indeed, consumers very often complain that both the crunchiness and the taste disappear too quickly during chewing.
Furthermore, with a permanent desire to reduce costs, manufacturers constantly seek improvements in their already existing recipes without, however, having an impact on the organoleptic qualities of the final products. These cost reductions that are sought involve for example the reduction of expensive ingredients, such as the gum base and/or the amount of flavoring used.
Numerous research studies have already been carried out on the persistence of the taste by numerous companies. The applicant has also worked on this subject and mention may be made in this respect of patent EP 0 664 960 B in which the applicant demonstrated that it was possible to improve the organoleptic property of a chewing gum, and in particular to improve the taste and flavor in terms of impact and duration, by incorporating therein, as pulverulent phase, maltitol with a maltitol purity of greater than 95% and a particle size such that 50% of the maltitol particles in the chewing gum are less than 90 microns in size.
In wishing to further improve upon the prior art and especially to satisfy the ever more demanding expectations of consumers, the applicant thus sets itself the task of obtaining a novel chewing gum having all the desired characteristics with a reduced amount of gum base in the final product, with no impact on the organoleptic properties, and in particular on the chewing volume and/or on the aromatic note perceived during chewing by consumers.